Major hurdle in kidney transplantation is availability of healthy donor: Expert

More than 300,000 people are suffering from end-stage kidney ailments and despite that only 10,000 transplantations are taking place, nephrologist and renal transplant physician Raka Kasuhal said on Sunday.

She said a major hurdle in kidney transplantation is the availability of a suitable healthy donor in the family.

About 30-40 percent of kidney failure patients do not get a transplant due to blood group mismatch in the family.

She was speaking at a continued medical education (CME) on kidney transplant held here. Nearly 80 physicians took part in it, organized by Ivy Hospital in Mohali in the association of the Indian Medical Association of Dharamsala.

Such kidney transplantation was once considered impossible or highly risky due to hyperacute rejection by which the transplanted organ becomes non-functional as it will be rejected by the antibodies, Kasuhal said.

Renal transplant surgeon Avinash Srivastava said ABO (A, B, AB, O blood groups) incompatible kidney transplant is a boon to such patients as it may reduce the waiting time for transplants in them.

"We have been performing ABO incompatible transplants successfully for the last three years. To perform such transplants, medical treatment is given to lower antibody levels in the blood and reduce the risk of donor kidney rejection. This treatment includes a process of removing antibodies from the blood (plasmapheresis), and prescribing medications that protect the new kidney from antibodies," he said.

The results of such ABO incompatible transplants are the same as of normal kidney transplant with about 93-95 percent kidneys working by the end of the first year, he added.

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